The bow string release device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,594 is an extremely compact device, having a metal housing less than four inches in overall length which mounts a pivoted trigger and an external sleeve slidable longitudinally of the housing upon movement of the trigger. The sleeve acts to cam a pair of ball bearings mounted at opposite sides of a slot in the front of the housing into positive engagement with each other to retain a bow string against release from the slot or to permit the balls to move away from each other to release the bow string when the sleeve is retracted relative to the housing upon pulling of the trigger. Drawing of the bow is accomplished by trapping the bow string in the slot behind the engaged balls and pulling rearwardly on the housing to draw the bow. Because the housing is too small to be gripped firmly enough to draw the bow, an adjustable wrist strap is coupled to the rearward end of the housing and in use is looped around the archers wrist, the string drawing force being transmitted from the archer's hand just forwardly of his wrist through the strap to the release device housing.
This arrangement has several drawbacks. One problem is that it is not a simple matter to get the wrist strap properly adjusted. During the drawing of the bow, the loop of the wrist strap is tightened around that portion of a plurality clenched hand just forward of the wrist joints to a degree such as to occasion some discomfort even if the strap is at a position of optimum comfort. Because the strap is flexible and is in frictional engagement with the skin of the hand, the strap will not always return to the same position on the archer's hand during repeated usages as in target shooting. The hunter, who must wait for an unpredictable period of of time for what is usually only a single shot, has no option other than to have the release device strapped to his hand at al times ready for use.
The present invention is directed to a hand grip arrangement for a release device of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,394 or similar release devices which overcomes the problems discussed above.